May 02, 2009
Like promised we have the luck to present you an interview with the Terminatrix
(Summer Glau).
Huge thanks to Summer Glau for her time, the FedCon organization in Bonn and Miss
Brigitte Scherr who made this interview possible.
During the last, beautiful and very early Saturday morning I travelled to Bonn to meet
Summer Glau. Thinking about this interview helped me to endure several highway
blockades and redirections.
The interview was scheduled for 11AM and I arrive just barely at 10:30AM and after six
hours of driving at the Maritim Hotel. And shortly after I did my check-in Summer Glau
was standing in front of me:
Hi.
I hope that something interesting emerged in the following which just got interrupted a
few times by Summer's coughing because she had a cold. She told me about her
experiences with the TV network, the future of T:TSCC, her character Cameron, her loyal
fans and her favourite series.

Question: Hi, Summer. I would like to thank you for finding the time to answer a few
questions to us.
Summer: Thanks for having me.

Q: The first immediate question: Can you tell us if T:TSCC will be cancelled or not? Do
you know anything?
S: That's a complicated situation. I'm in the TV business since seven years now and a lot
changed in this time. Therefore changed also the way how the networks work. There is a
little chaos by now: seasons get shortened, other seasons get extended, separated in
several parts, pilots get ordered at unusual times, series do long breaks and return after
some time etc. It's no longer how it was, when you, as an actor, got a contract and a
safe job for leastwise 22 episodes. Now it's possible that a network orders only 3 or 10
episodes. At the moment, Terminator's future depends on how many pilots leave a good
impression on Fox, how many new series get ordered and how much money will be left to
renew old series after all that. To be honest, we have no idea if it'll continue or not until
May, 18. Notwithstanding the news that everything would be clear it'll be a last-second
decision. But we have hope because our fans are incredibly creative and fight very hard
for the future of the series.

Q: It seems that it's always the same with Fox for you: You play again in a sci-fi series
which the fans love but the network isn't satisfied with the ratings. After “Firefly”, the
fan's support made the movie “Serenity” possible. And now comes the new Terminator
movie and further movies are planned. Could you imagine playing in one of the new
Terminator movies?
S: Actually yes. The producers have already talked with me about the idea to let me
show up on and off between the soldiers but that's just an idea at the moment. I think
that the series and the movies are about different worlds and realities. I see both as two
versions of the Terminator story. I'm looking forward the movie by the way; it will be a
big spectacle. And I'm generally very proud to be a part of the franchise. I could never
have imagined that Terminator would be such an important and big part of my life. It
was the first time that I was on billboards and it was just a breakthrough for me.

Q: We hope that the series will be renewed and that the third season will take place in
the future. In my opinion- and many fans share it- this would be great. What's your
opinion about that?
S: Yes!!! That would be the best. I love the scenes which take place in the future- the
whole cat and-mouse game in the dirty tunnels and the barren landscapes – that's
absolutely my thing. Cause I had only very little future scenes as Cameron I was always
very jealous of the guys who could shoot in the future.

Q: I think a story in the future would help the series a lot.
S: Me too. Cause the second season asked more questions than it answered, the whole
thing exploded in different directions which must be followed up and the characters'
destinies must be cleared up. Cause in the second season we became more in
comparison to the first season when we were only three people- which was very
exhausting after a while. We were really just wiped out. It was more work than we could
handle. So we screamed for help because we were burnt out (laughs).
And we received help.

Q: You mentioned that the characters followed different directions. What is about
Cameron?
S: I don't want to see Cameron leave and Josh promised me that it won't happen.

Q: We hope too because if not, many, many fans will be sad.
S: Thank you very much, that means a lot to me.

Q: I think it wouldn't work without Cameron because she makes the already mentioned
difference between the movies and the series. Because, in the movies, the Terminators
exists to kill but Cameron exists to protect, to save lives and maybe also to learn how to
love (Summer laughs). She exists to reflect on human emotions and relationships.
S: Thanks again! I'm happy that our intention got across to the people, that our work
and the direction which we decided for got appreciated. I'm very happy that Cameron
has been accepted by the fans as a character because I know how much the old
Terminator movies mean to the fans:
Arnold is a world star and has a huge fan base and it was never our intention neither to
imitate the movies nor to go in their direction. Arnold is Arnold. We do respect and
honour his achievement and the character which he personified- that's why we didn't try
to recreate them but our series had other objectives. I'm very grateful that I've been
trusted in to play Cameron.

Q: Many fans complained that the second season came about too slowly- until the season
finale. But in my opinion the slow episodes were important in order to prepare a rapid
finale and to create a mature story from all directions.
S: Yes, that's exactly how it is. You must create a story, especially when it's not a movie
but a TV series. In a movie you've only three hours to tell an impressive story. In a TV
series you've mostly 22 episodes and you must use them. On that account the TV
audience sometimes has to exercise more patience than the movie audience which is
eager for a fast satisfaction of its expectations. On TV it usually pays off.

Q: Can you describe us a day on the Terminator set?
S: Yes, the day starts with me and my make-up. Very early (laughs). Every morning the
stylists and I are the first who are awake. Actually it's very nice because so we can tattle
about everything and everybody (laughs).Later come the men, to start to shave
themselves, we rehearse our lines and bit by bit it becomes full. We're like a family and
that's the reason why I prefer to play in television. It can also happen in movies but most
times you come, do your job and leave. Whereas you bond with people permanently. Of
course we also have differences with each other but also enough time to settle our
differences. It's just like in a family.
Well, after we're finished, the funny part comes because Thomas Dekker is the funniest
person I know and he can't do his work without joking around all the time. In addition to
that there is Shirley's incredible Scottish accent and the good mood is complete. We, as a
cast, are well known for our shady behaviour (laughs).
Many times we get to know the new director who's appalled about us in the beginning
(laughs) and we discuss the shooting day with him. We grew together as a cast in this
way and every cast member knows his character so well that the directors appease very
fast.
After that we practice our stunts. According to the fact that we did shoot more on
location in the second season, we usually moved to the current shooing locations. We
shoot about six pages from the script per day which means 15-16 hours work per day.
We literally live the series.

Q: How is the work with the authors? Do you do everything which you get ordered to do
or do your own viewpoints and suggestions slip in your characters?
S: That's something we talked about during the second season. While the directing and
the process of everything as well as the characters' developments were pretty clear in
the first season, everything moved in so many different directions that some of us didn't
know where everything would lead to and felt the need to be more involved in the
characters' developments. And the authors let it happen. Thanks to the excellent
relationship, which we have with the authors, a kind of trust developed. It's not as if we
would ask all the time why our characters do this or that during a long and exhausting
shooting day. We trust in how each one does his job. We are a team.

Q: You're a very busy actress. Do you have time to follow other series or to just watch
television? What's on your TiVo?
S: The series “Brothers & Sisters” is in my favourites and I love “30 Rock”. I didn't like it
in the beginning but my sisters (comment by serienjunkies.de: Summer Glau's two
sisters went along with her to Bonn) brought me to watch it again and again and now I'm
a big fan. Besides I like “American Idol”, do you watch the show here too?

Q: We have “German Idol”.
S: Oh, then I must glance at it. I love competition. This aspect makes the show
interesting for me. And I like “Top Chef” and “Project Runway”. I love television in
general and I always watch TV when I have time but it's difficult during the shootings
because there is almost no time for sleep!
But we watch some shows together, the complete cast of Terminator, like “Top Chef” and
“Project Runway”. So we can talk about it the next day (laughs).

Q: One last question: What will you do next? In which new project can we see you?
S: I just got an offer for a movie role. It's a movie I want to play in at all costs. I won't
say which movie it is before I have more clarity if Terminator gets renewed in two weeks
because then I couldn't accept the role anyway. But I read the script and I was
absolutely amazed. Right now, it's very hard to go to meetings and look at things
because the question is always if our series is cancelled. But I need to consider the
possibility that it won't go on and for this reason it's comforting to me that I discovered
this project last week.

Q: Thank you for taking the time for our questions.
S: I thank you for the interview.

Taken from SerienJunkies.de's website:
http://www.serienjunkies.de/news/terminator-for-21738.html
Exclusive translation made by Tobi for:
Summer-Glau.net